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Simple Application Server:Introduction to images

Last Updated:May 13, 2025

Alibaba Cloud Simple Application Server provides the following types of images: application images, OS images, and custom images. When you create a simple application server, you can select an image based on your business requirements. This topic describes the image types that are supported by Simple Application Server. This topic also describes the image names and image versions of each image type.

Types

The following table describes the types of images supported by Simple Application Server.

Type

Description

Application images

Application images contain applications, initialization data and runtime environments of applications, and OSs. After you create a simple application server based on an application image, you can use preset application programs or create custom application configurations based on your business requirements. Application images provide ready-to-use applications. You do not need to upload or install applications.

For more information about how to create a simple application server based on an application image, see Build a WordPress blog.

OS images

OS images contain only the OSs that are required to start servers. OS images do not contain application data or environment configurations. After you create a simple application server based on an OS image, the server runs on an OS that has no installed applications. You can install applications on the server based on your business requirements.

For more information about how to create a simple application server based on an OS image, see Deploy Apache based on a CentOS OS image.

Custom images

You can create a custom image based on a snapshot of a simple application server. You can use a custom image to create multiple simple application servers that have the same configurations. You can also share custom images to Elastic Compute Service (ECS) and use the shared images to create ECS instances or replace the OSs of existing ECS instances.

For more information, see Overview of custom images.

Application images

The following table describes the application images that are supported by Simple Application Server.

Note

The supported images and versions vary based on regions. The images and versions displayed on the buy page in the Simple Application Server console take precedence.

Name

Version

Description

References

Drupal

8.3.7

Drupal is an open source and excellent content management system (CMS). Drupal is used to build dynamic websites that provide rich features and services. Drupal combines powerful and configurable features to support website projects from personal blogs to large communities. This image is developed based on CentOS 7 64-bit.

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Cloudreve

3.8.3

Cloudreve is an open source cloud storage system software that allows you to build a synchronous cloud storage system and share the storage with your team. This way, you can manage file synchronization, file sharing, offline download, and team collaboration across platforms and devices.

This image is developed based on Alibaba Cloud Linux 3.2104 64-bit and pre-installed with NGINX, Aria2, and MariaDB.

Use the Cloudreve application image to build a cloud storage system

Nextcloud

23.0.0

Nextcloud is an open source cloud storage system software that allows you to build a synchronous cloud storage system and share the storage with your team. This way, you can manage synchronization, sharing, version control, and team collaboration of files across platforms and devices. This image is developed based on Ubuntu 20.04 and pre-installed with PHP 7.4.3, MariaDB 10.3, and Apache 2.4.41.

Use the Nextcloud application image to build a cloud storage system

Docker

26.1.3

Docker is a popular open source container engine. Docker allows developers to package applications and dependencies into lightweight and portable containers in a simple and efficient manner for faster application delivery, deployment, migration, and scaling.

This image is developed based on Alibaba Cloud Linux 3.2104 LTS 64-bit.

Quickly deploy Docker

LAMP

  • 1.0

  • 6.1.0

  • 7.4

LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP) images are pre-installed with Apache, MySQL, PHP, and relevant components. LAMP images are commonly used to build web applications.

  • The LAMP 1.0 image is developed based on CentOS 7.4 64-bit.

  • The LAMP 6.1.0 image is developed based on CentOS 7.3 64-bit.

  • The LAMP 7.4 image is developed based on CentOS 7.9 64-bit.

Node.js

16.5.0

Node.js is a platform that is built on the JavaScript runtime environment of Google Chrome. This platform is used to build fast and scalable network applications. This image is developed based on CentOS 7.9 64-bit.

Install an SSL certificate in a Node.js environment

ASP.NET

4.8

ASP.NET images support multiple ASP and ASP.NET parsing methods. By default, ASP.NET images are installed with an SQL Server database. This image is developed based on Windows 2012 64-bit Enterprise Edition.

Joomla

3.8.5

Joomla! is a CMS that is developed by using the PHP language and MySQL database.

-

Ghost

1.22.7

Ghost is an open source Node.js-based CMS that is created by former WordPress employees. The interface of Ghost is simple, modern, and beautiful. Ghost themes stand out for their elegant designs.

-

OpenCart

3.0.2.0

OpenCart is an open source PHP-based online e-commerce solution.

-

Plesk

17.8.11.5

Plesk allows you to efficiently build, secure, and run websites and applications on Alibaba Cloud. Features of Plesk include all server management tools and WordPress automation.

-

cPanel

94.0.5

cPanel & WHM (WebHost Manager) is a web hosting automation software. You can use cPanel license keys free of charge for 15 days. If you want to continue using the image after 15 days, you must apply for a formal license on the official cPanel website.

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OS images

The following table describes the OS images that are supported by Simple Application Server.

Note

The supported images and versions vary based on regions. The images and versions displayed on the buy page in the Simple Application Server console take precedence.

Name

Version

Description

References

Alibaba Cloud Linux

2.19.03

Alibaba Cloud Linux 2 is the next-generation Linux distribution that is provided by Alibaba Cloud. Alibaba Cloud Linux 2 provides enhanced Linux community features for cloud application environments. This image is optimized based on Alibaba Cloud infrastructure to provide better experience to cloud users.

-

3.21.04

Alibaba Cloud Linux 3 is the third-generation Alibaba Cloud OS. In addition to all features that are inherited from Alibaba Cloud Linux 2, Alibaba Cloud Linux 3 offers a better cloud OS experience and provides improved security, stability, and runtime performance.

-

CentOS

  • 7.3

  • 7.6

  • 8.2

CentOS is an enterprise-level Linux distribution based on the free source code that is provided by Red Hat Linux.

Deploy Apache based on a CentOS OS image

Ubuntu

  • 16.04

  • 18.04

  • 20.04

  • 22.04

  • 24.04

Ubuntu is an open source GNU/Linux OS that is designed mainly for desktop applications. Ubuntu is developed based on Debian GNU/Linux and supports x86, amd64 (x64), and PowerPC architectures. Ubuntu is created by the global professional development team Canonical Ltd.

Windows

  • 2008 R2

  • 2012 R2

  • Windows 2016 Data Center Edition

  • Windows 2019 Data Center Edition

  • Windows 2022 Data Center Edition

Windows images are suitable for running the programs that are developed based on Windows, such as ASP and .NET. These images support databases such as Access and SQL Server and can be managed by using the remote desktop logon method. A Windows image requires a system disk of at least 40 GiB.

-

Debian

  • 9.8

  • 10.5

  • 11.3

  • 12.5

Debian is an open source image that runs the Linux OS and includes several free software distributions.

-

OpenSUSE

42.3

openSUSE is a stable, easy-to-use, and comprehensive Linux distribution that is popular with system administrators, developers, and desktop users.

Note

This image is unavailable in specific regions. The images that are displayed in the Simple Application Server console take precedence.

-

Anolis

8.4 ANCK

Anolis OS 8 is an open source Linux distribution that is released by the OpenAnolis community. Anolis OS 8 is fully compatible with CentOS 8 and supports multiple computing architectures. Anolis OS 8 is a stable, high-performance, secure, and reliable operating system.

-

CentOS Stream

9

CentOS Stream is a rolling release Linux distribution after CentOS 8.

-

Rocky Linux

8.6

Rocky Linux is a branch of CentOS and a downstream rebuild of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). Similar to CentOS, Rocky Linux provides a stable Linux distribution that is suitable for servers. Rocky Linux is designed to be a replacement of CentOS.

-

AlmaLinux

9.0

AlmaLinux is an open source, community-driven project that was originally created by CloudLinux to replace the phased-out stable version of CentOS. AlmaLinux is a 1:1 binary compatible fork of RHEL 9.

-

Custom images

A custom image is created based on a snapshot of a simple application server. The following table describes the operations that are related to custom images. For more information about the operations, see Manage custom images.

Operation

Description

References

Create custom images

You can create a custom image to store the data on a simple application server. The custom image can be shared to ECS or used to create simple application servers that have the same configurations.

Create custom images

Share custom images to ECS

Custom images can be shared to ECS. If the configurations of your simple application server cannot meet your business requirements or you want to use ECS instances to deploy your business, you can share your custom image to ECS to migrate your business from Simple Application Server to ECS.

Share an image to ECS

Unshare custom images

You can unshare a custom image based on your business requirements. You must unshare a custom image before you delete it.

Unshare images with ECS

Cross-account share custom images

You can share custom images to other Alibaba Cloud accounts in the same region to deploy the same environments for multiple simple application servers and improve deployment efficiency.

Share a custom image across accounts

Copy custom images

You can copy a custom image of a simple application server across regions.

Copy a custom image

Delete custom images

You can delete custom images that you no longer need.

Delete a custom image

Create simple application servers based on custom images

You can use a custom image that contains server configurations to create simple application servers that have the same configurations.

Use a custom image to create simple application servers